We were up in Mammoth for a holiday weekend ski trip where I also had a twitter tasting with Steven Kent Wines and Jim Demetriades, owner of Rafters hosted me! And what a gracious host! I was able to use a beautiful side room for the tasting, sommelier Chip Irmish set me up with the correct glasses I’d need as well as a dump bucket, and an ice bucket. Staff brought water, and either Chef Kerry Mechler or various staff brought out the six dishes that chef had chosen to pair with the six wines.

The LaRochelle branch of Steven Kent Wines specializes in chardonnay and pinot noir; the label features the “kiss” like you might get from a letterpress which you can see if you click on the image to make it bigger (you can also see me reflected in the crystal clear glasses!). I think of the kiss as the attention they are paying to the land…

As if I wasn’t already in heaven, this appetizer is for angels–angels that like pork belly, that is! This was one of the most satisfying post-ski foods I could imagine. My son and my husband arrived fresh from the slopes about when these arrived at the table and we practically fought over these! My son wanted me us to get another order!

These were tasty with the pinot noir–the fresh dark tart cherry fruit sliced right through all that richness. The silky wine matched well with the silky potato and pork belly; it had depth and a long finish. (I also tried this pinot with the mushroom risotto from the previous course but I liked the risotto better with the next pinot!)

The color is a vibrant, ruby red, with a little earthiness. The wine smells flat out delicious–it smells so good that you want to just keep smelling it but it makes you crazy because you also want to drink it! Cherry on the nose with some leather and mushroom. Later I tried it with a mushroom brie which mellowed out the fruitiness in the wine. I could imagine this being lovely with salmon or chicken; I also tried it with an well as a seared Ahi Tuna Salad and that worked well–the silkiness in the fish went well with the silky wine and the fruitiness of the wine also worked well.

I love duck, I love pasta, I love mushrooms, I love rosemary, I love cream sauces. I loved this imaginative dish and I look forward to having it again when I’m not ins such a big rush and I can relax and enjoy it more. The flavors were rich and complex but not overwhelming; the rosemary livened it all up and the wine brings it all out more vibrantly.

The second pinot noir was from the Donum Estate in Carneros. More of a cranberry color, it was beautiful and vibrant. Nose had a rich aroma; we could smell the oak–it was almost like a cinnamon stick (in a good way!).

While the oak in this wine is more apparent than in the SLH, no worries: it’s not like sucking on a chunk of wood. In fact is a a floral essence to it, like a lavender, and it’s zesty too with a very balanced acidity.

Back home I tried it with a wesleyshire with cranberries which brought out the cranberry and other red fruit notes in the wine while a blue cheese brings out the sweetness, in both the wine and the cheese.

Only 115 cases of this special wine were made; the wine retails at $75 a bottle.

While these two pinots are very different, we agreed they were both new world expressions of pinot noir.

Up next: Part 3–Petit Verdot and a cabernet!

Followed by Part 4: a return to Rafters and a stay at Sierra Nevada Lodge!

Part 2 in this series of posts about Rafters Restaurant in Mammoth Lakes CA: reviews and mouthwatering photos of the foods and reviews of the two Steven Ken Wines LaRochelle Pinot Noirs we tasted there!

Thanks Gloria! If you ever get to Mammoth, Rafters has lots of tasty treats and a very warm, inviting ambiance!
(these wines will be a little harder to find as they are all quite limited in production for now!)

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After starting my Art Predator blog November 2007, I began Wine Predator and attended the First Wine Bloggers Conference in Sonoma in 2008 and 2009. In November 2009, I went to the European Wine Bloggers Conference then to the Alentejo Region of Portugal on a wine tour sponsored by Enoforum WInes. In 2010, I won a scholarship to attend the Wine Bloggers Conference in Walla Walla as well as a pre-conference trip to learn more about Washington wine. In 2011, instead of going to the Virginia Wine Bloggers Conference, I explored by VW van the wine regions of the Northwest. In 2012, I participated in the Wine Bloggers Conference in Portland where I gave an Ignite!Wine presentation. In 2013 I won a scholarship to attend the Wine Bloggers Conference in Penticton, Canada. In 2014, I attended WBC14 in Santa Barbara and the Wine Tourism Conference in Paso Robles, CA.

Who knows where I will prowl next? Invite me to your neck of the woods! You can reach me by email: gwendolynalley AT yahoo DOT com.